Strasbourg, 10/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - In a letter to Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht, EU agricultural organisations represented by COPA-COGECA have expressed their fears about the increased opening up of the EU market to countries from North Africa. This opening up planned by the European Commission is intended to help towards the stabilisation of a region currently in the throes of democratic fervour. The agricultural organisations emphasise: “We appreciate the importance of establishing stability in the region but we are concerned that precipitous action could simply cause instability and hardship elsewhere.” The two organisations are also concerned about the possible repercussions that preferential action could have on other trading partners and on current trading negotiations being undertaken by the EU, as well as the negative impact of such initiative on European subsistence farming.
COPA-COGECA explains that “the EU has already opened up its market to a number of EuroMed countries and negotiations to open markets further are already underway. In particular, the impact of the recently completed trade negotiations with Morocco will have an extremely serious impact on the livelihood of EU producers of fruit and vegetables”. The agricultural organisations also state that any further opening of trade with North African countries would have a devastating impact on these producers and thereby, on regions of the EU. They claim that such action could also further exacerbate market volatility for food products. (E.H./transl.fl)